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A Tale Of Two Text Editors: One Free, One Not, Both Different, Both Useful For Mac Users

Text editors are a little like beer. Everyone has a favorite, a personal choice, and what works for one doesn’t necessarily work for someone else.

So it is with two Mac text editors. Those of us who muck around in code or markup usually have two or three editors on hand; each with a special set of functions that fit our needs. If you’re not much into the intricacies of text editors you’ll probably go for something like SimpleEdit.

It is what you think it is. A simple editor good for code and markup. Simple. That’s also a euphemism for ‘not many features.’ It bills itself as your first second editor. I like that. It’s only the bare minimum of typical text editor features, and that’s the beauty. It’s fast and uncluttered.

It does have shortcuts, one-click HTML validation, online snippet repository, and it’s iCloud enabled so you documents go wherever you go. SimpleEdit has a price tag, but it’s about the same as a trip to Starbucks.

At the other end of the scale is TextWrangler, which is free and feature laden, and an all time favorite.

Other than iCloud support there just isn’t much that TextWrangler doesn’t do.

It’s aimed a bit more at web developers, and handles PHP, JavaScript, HTML, and more with ease. There’s also a built-in FTP/SFTP option to upload and download remote files. And, Mac users love that it supports AppleScript and Unix scripting.

Neither of these apps are word processors in the traditional sense. Don’t both using them to format a lengthy and tradition word processor document. They’re text editors aimed at those who code or need quick markup. One, the one with the price tag, appears more useful for those who don’t code all day, while the other is probably the first second choice of those who make money with their keyboard finesse.